Monday, February 4, 2013

So I think the time has come to give up Facebook for awhile…maybe social
media in general. That’s right - I am giving up Facebook for Lent. Will it be
hard? Undoubtedly. But a few things have really made me see the light. I am
just too dependent on the stupid thing.

For one, I thought I lost my Facebook this past weekend because it wouldn’t
let me log in (no I didn’t forget my password). It told me my account had been
locked for security reasons. What?! I think it must have been hacked (but I did
get it figured out). Throughout this Saturday night debacle, I was positively
freaking out. To explain this: I’ve had Facebook since 2005 or 2006. I can’t
even begin to tell you how many photos I have invested in it. It’s also a way
for me to connect with people I never see anymore – to see what’s going on in
their lives. Especially my sister – who lives in California with her husband
and baby. I get to browse through photos of them living their lives. That’s
comforting.

But then more than half the time, I am just browsing, browsing, browsing and
getting myself caught up in other people’s drama. Or somehow I am managing to
cause drama for myself. And I hate drama. I mean HATE drama. I like
seeing posts about the awesome new recipe a friend made for dinner (weird, yes). I like
seeing photos of my friends’ kids. But I don’t like seeing posts about
politics and/or religion (I am guilty of this…insert causing drama for myself).
People are highly opinionated on things they’re passionate about – but why do
we all (and we’re almost all guilty of this) feel the need to post it on the
Internet where everyone can see? All it does is cause arguments and hard
feelings.

So yeah, Facebook is the biggest waste of time. I bet, in one day, if you
add up all the times I check Facebook on my phone or on my computer, it would
equal hours. How sad is that?

It’s sad. You can say it – or think it. Whatever. Point is – it’s terribly,
ridiculously, stupidly sad. I hate being so dependent on a stupid social media outlet. It’s frustrating. If I get even just a little bit bored
throughout the day, I go straight to Facebook. That time could be spent doing so many better things! What in the world did I do as a kid without it? I managed.
Somehow I managed and was a fun, lively, creative kid with an imagination as
big as a freight train. I am going to manage again.

And hopefully, once Lent is over, I don’t have that big of an urge to go
back to Facebook. Hopefully I get into the habit of reading a book when I have
10 minutes of free time. Or doodling. Or doing laundry. Or exercising. I’m
hoping that, because of this, I’ll only sometimes have the urge to post pictures of my kids
someday…or once in awhile feel the need to browse through what’s been happening
with my close friends and see pictures of their kids.

Or a picture of that new, awesome, delicious looking
recipe someone posted.(P.S. I do plan to keep blogging, though. I am a writer and this is one of my many avenues to be able to do that. Writing is something I plan to do more of during my Facebook absence. I might even write about this upcoming experience.)